How Do Dinosaurs Say I'm Mad? By Jane Yolen & Mark Teague

How Do Dinosaurs Say I'm Mad?
    Emotions can be so confusing for our little ones to handle.  Anger, although it is a singular emotion, can be triggered by a multitude of things---when a younger sister crayons all over a drawing that they worked so hard to make just perfect for a special someone; or being denied that yummy, gooey double chocolate chip cookie because that ugly, nasty, green leafy veggie still remains on their dinner plate. 
    Our little ones express their displeasure to us in a whole host of ways; through yelling, stomping their hands and feet, and even resorting to biting us (As our family legend states, once, during the spring of '75, while in the cracker/cereal aisle at King Kullen, I bit my mother on her hand while she pushed the cart, for her refusal to put a box of Nabisco Animal Crackers that I whined for, in my hands, and she, in turn, bit my hand back.  Gone in that very instant was the start of my biting ways, as well as my taste for Animal Crackers!).  Emotions and learning are undeniably closely intertwined, as the process of comprehending how positive behaviors will elicit a positive response from those around them are a work in progress during our little one's toddler years. 
     Talking with your children about learning how to understand their feelings is key--while anger management control can be, at least for some, a lifetime filled with learning, making those early attempts to show your children how to sense those emotional triggers, modeling how consequences have actions, but yet at the very same time, instilling in your children that anger does not define nor has the ultimate power to control them, is so important.

      Well-expressed stories like the recent release from the acclaimed team of author Jane Yolen and illustrator Mark Teague called How Do Dinosaurs Say I'm Mad, can help little ones learn to control their tempers, while at the same time, engage their interest.  As our tale begins, we are reminded that dinosaurs were big, strong, and, well, let's face it, I'm sure that there were plenty of times just like the dinosaurs featured in Yolen and Teague's story, that roared and stomped their feet when they felt upset or angry about something.   But, the biggest question posed in this engagingly humorous tale  is, can dinosaurs learn to settle down and try to behave like a cool, calm Brontosaurus, instead of being like a temper-tantrum prone Afrovenator? Filled with humor and gentle wisdom throughout, Yolen and Teague (author's one of my son's constantly read bedtime stories when he was small, How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight) adeptly show little ones the right ways as well as the wrong ways to handle their emotions.

 

How Do Dinosaurs Say I'm Mad?
Written by Jane Yolen and Illustrated by Mark Teague
Publisher:  Blue Sky Press, an imprint of Scholastic
Website: www.scholastic.com
ISBN: 978-0545143158
For ages 4 to 8
Retails for $